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Oleh/By : DATO SERI DR MAHATHIR BIN MOHAMAD
Tempat/Venue : RABAT, MOROCCO
Tarikh/Date : 16-04-2002
Tajuk/Title : THE MEETING AND DIALOGUE SESSION
WITH MOROCCAN ISLAMIC
INTELLECTUALS, THINK TANKS
AND PARLIAMENTARIANS
Versi : ENGLISH
Penyampai : PM
ENHANCING THE IMAGE OF ISLAM
I would like to thank the organisers, the Moroccan
Islamic Intellectuals, Think Tanks and Parliamentarians
for the opportunity to meet and interact with you.
2. Muslims throughout the world are very concerned
about the poor image of Islam, the weakness of the
Muslims and their oppression by others. The fate of
the Palestinians is of course a good example of how far
we have regressed since the great days of the Islamic
civilisation. Today Muslims can be terrorised with
impunity by just about anybody. And Muslim countries
can do nothing to help beyond appealing to the rest of
the world, the non-Muslim world to intervene and put an
end to the misery of our Muslim brothers. And we know
how unproductive is such an appeal.
3. Many of us are resigned to our fate. We believe
there is nothing we can do. Some even console
themselves with the belief that we will enjoy a better
life in the hereafter. We believe that this life, this
world is for the infidels. They can enjoy life now
because they will be going to hell after death. And so
we endure and we do nothing to improve our situation.
4. Then there are those who get so frustrated and
angry that they want to lash out against their
tormentors blindly. Never mind the backlash against
the Muslims. Never mind the futility of their efforts.
What is important to them is that they can vent their
anger. They believe they are fighting a holy war, a
jihad. They believe that they will become martyrs
whether they achieve anything or not.
5. We applaud their bravery but what they do does not
help Islam or the Muslims. What they do does not
improve the image of the Muslims. In fact they achieve
the opposite effect.
6. Lashing out blindly in anger will not bring back
the glory of the Muslim civilisation or Muslim power.
It will not even achieve the immediate objective of
punishing the enemy. It is not even Islamic.
7. If we cannot just resign ourselves to our fate, if
we cannot fight back in anger, then what can we do?
8. We have a need to look to the past for guidance,
to the history of the founding of Islam and the Muslim
community and the creation of the Muslim empire.
Indeed we have to look at, to study closely the
struggles of the Prophet of Islam, himself. Muhammad
s.a.w. the chosen of Allah, was the most outstanding
leader and reformer in the history of mankind and he
cannot but be the role model for us. It is not just
because of our faith but he is indeed an exemplary
model for us.
9. Favoured by Allah, chosen by Him, Muhammad s.a.w.
struggles to spread the message of Islam could have
been made easy. Allah had only to say "Be" and it will
"Be". But the Prophet was not given an easy passage.
He had to struggle against tremendous odds for a third
of his lifetime. He had difficulty even to convince
close family members and friends. He was vilified in
Mekah, chased out of Taif, and had to escape to Madinah
when his enemies wanted to kill him. He lost and won
battles, was seriously wounded and was betrayed by some
of his own followers.
10. But we know he succeeded. He succeeded because of
his belief, his faith in his role as the Messenger of
Allah, his willingness to suffer the trials and
tribulations, his tenacity and his patience. He did
not just pray for divine help but for 23 long years, he
worked hard and when he died as all mortals must die,
he had set Islam on such a firm footing that 1400 years
later 1.3 billion people still adhere to Islam.
11. If today the Muslims are oppressed and hunted like
animals sometimes, it is not because of Islam, it is
because we have not taken the struggles of our Prophet
as our guide, as an example of how to overcome
adversity and how to succeed. It is because by and
large we have not adhered to the true teachings of
Islam. We are too much involved in the interpretation,
reinterpretation and reinterpreting the
reinterpretation of the esoteric aspects of Islam that
we have become confused and we have ignored even the
clear fundamental teachings of Islam.
12. We are enjoined to seek hassanah in this world and
in the next but clearly we are not striving hard enough
for hassanah in this world, or else why are we in such
a terrible state now. Allah wants us to achieve a
balance between dunia and akhirat. But we are instead
abandoning this world to the non-believers while
striving only for the akhirat. This is against the
fundamentals of Islam.
13. Then there is the brotherhood of the Muslims which
Islam enjoins upon us. Can we say that we Muslims are
brothers? If we are then can we squabble among
ourselves on what to do while our brothers in Palestine
and elsewhere are being slaughtered? Every time a
proposal is made to solve a problem we cannot
unanimously agree to the proposal. And if we make a
counter proposal the others will not agree either. And
so we remain divided and have never achieved the unity
of the Muslim brotherhood. In fact when we call
ourselves the Muslim Brotherhood the first thing we do
is to condemn other Muslims and to kill them even. Yet
we know that the first thing the Prophet did was to
unite the warring Arab tribes through Islam, to make
them brother of each other and to start the spread of
Islam aided by the previously warring tribes.
14. We all know this of course. We all know the Quran
and the Hadith and we can quote the passages at any
time. But can we honestly say we practice what is
taught us by the Quran and the Hadith?
15. The early Muslims were great scholars, scientists,
mathematicians and doctors. Today other than those
learned in religion there is hardly any Muslim
scholars, scientists, mathematicians and doctors of
good repute. Yet we know that the Quran urges us to
observe the creations of Allah, the sky and the earth,
the rain that falls, the plants that grow as a result,
so the animals can eat and we can use them for food and
for transport.
16. Are we being asked merely to observe these things
or are we supposed to study these creations of Allah
so that we can apply them for the betterment of our
lives? Surely observation means study. Obviously we
are not studying. And yet when others apply their
observations of Allah's creation and produce food and
the products which enhance the quality of our lives we
are quick to use them, to pay high prices for them.
17. Why are we not studying Allah's creation? About a
century before the fall of Muslim Spain, Muslims were
urged to study only religion and nothing else. Today
we are still urged to neglect other knowledge except
religious knowledge. Other knowledge is regarded as
secular and will not give us merit for akhirat. As a
result Muslims everywhere are backward, badly educated
and are incapable of applying modern knowledge in the
administration and development of Muslim countries, in
their defence and the protection of the ummah.
18. Unfortunately we are not even learning the true
teachings of our religion. What we learn is the
appearances or the forms rather than the substance of
religious teachings.
19. What is strongly enjoined upon us to carry out is
often ignored. It is for example the duty of Muslims
to prepare for the defence of the ummah. But instead
of emphasising defence we think of keeping horses as
the sunnah of the Prophet. And so we do not learn the
sciences and the skills to make the modern weapons of
war. We are happy to buy them second hand.
20. As Muslims we must know our religion. We must
study it. We must understand enough not to deviate or
to be mislead. But surely this level of understanding
will not take up all our time. Surely we will have
time to study and acquire the knowledge needed for us
to be able to invent and produce our needs, for our
everyday life, for our community and most importantly
for the defence of the ummah. Still we accept that
some of us must spend their whole life to study
religion but must all of us be experts in religion and
nothing else.
21. We missed the Industrial Revolution because we
were suspicious of the products of industry. It is
difficult to imagine now but for a long time we did not
allow the Quran to be printed, we did not allow our
mosques to be lit up by electricity, we were even
against paintings, photography and the television.
Some Muslim religious scholars even refuse to believe
that man had landed on the moon. But we cannot reject
reality. Some of us try to recreate the environment of
1400 years ago because we believe that we can live the
life of true Muslims by so doing. But actually we are
denigrating Islam by inferring that Islam is suitable
for life in that period only. We must certainly know
that Islam is for all times. Islam is as suitable
today as it was when the Prophet was alive.
22. Because we missed the Industrial Revolution, our
countries failed to develop and benefit from the
advances made possible by modern industry. We have to
depend on others for our needs. And being dependent
mean not being independent.
23. Currently the world is going through the
Information Revolution. It looks like we may miss this
revolution also. And our independence will be eroded
further.
24. The world that we live in today is a world that
has been shaped by others. It is so because we are
weak and disunited. We cannot ignore this new world
however. We cannot isolate ourselves. The world will
not let us. We have therefore to develop our
capacities to deal with the new challenges facing us.
25. There was a time where we could do what we like
within our borders. But globalisation implies a
borderless world and we cannot hide behind our borders
any more. The assault against us will not be military
but economic.
26. Globalisation is about economics, about economic
management, economic development, economic strength and
economic forces. If we fail to develop economically,
we will go under, we will be dominated and will lose
our independence even though not a single foreign
soldier will step on our soil.
27. It is therefore imperative that apart from
acquiring modern knowledge we emphasise the study of
modern economics and finance and we learn economic
management. Whether our countries will survive or not
will depend on how much we understand the science and
art of building economic strength. The development of
our countries depend on this. Industrialisation, trade
and prudent financial management are more important
than political skills or even military strength and
prowess. Being brave and being ready to die for Islam,
is not enough and may even be counter productive.
28. We are seeing today rich countries being
impoverished because of the lack of skills to manage
foreign debt, or to attract foreign direct investments,
or to export and to trade and to handle a thousand and
one economic problems. Perfectly good economies can
suddenly come under attack of speculators and
impoverished literally overnight.
29. Skilful and unscrupulous people are on the lookout
for opportunities to exploit the weaknesses of
countries. They control the world media which aid and
abet them in creating an atmosphere conducive for their
exploitation. Once they have impoverished a country
their colleagues move in to pick the pieces. You
cannot fight them with military forces. You can only
fight them with financial and economic management
skills.
30. Out there the great banks and corporations are
furiously merging and acquiring each other in order to
become even bigger. They will talk about level playing
fields but they learn that size will determine who
wins. And they want to be the biggest in their fields.
31. Once there was opposition to monopolies and anti-
trust laws were enacted. Today no one is stopping the
corporations from trying to monopolise business
worldwide. In any industry, there will eventually be
only two or three players. They will dominate the
world. They will be so big and powerful that
governments will have to bow to them. If governments
refuse they have merely to pull out and governments and
countries will be practically bankrupted.
32. The international financial system of today gives
tremendous power to those with access to capital.
Obviously the poor countries will not have the capital
to counter their attacks. The reserves that they have
are nothing compared to the funds that the speculators
have at their disposal. Once they attack, defence
would be quite impossible. And so, strong economies
can go under unless they have managed their finances
and economy well and can find some ways to retain their
integrity.
33. I am painting a black picture of the future for
the developing countries because the future is really
not promising. We can only defend ourselves if the
economic management of our countries is good. And to
be good we must have the knowledge and the skills to
administer and develop our countries, to understand the
international economic and financial systems, and to be
united in protecting our interest. We fail to do so at
our own peril. Once dominated it would be extremely
difficult for us to release ourselves. We cannot blame
others for really we are to blame because we have our
priorities wrong, because we did not seek to balance
the hassanah in this world, with the hassanah in the
next, because we seek divine help without helping
ourselves first.
34. Today the image of Islam is far from being that of
the Islam of the Prophet. Despite the 1.3 billion
Muslims in this world we are unable to do anything for
ourselves. We live at the mercy of others. If they
want to, they can wipe us out with the nuclear bombs
that they have. In fact it is rumoured that destroying
Mekah and Madinah with nuclear bombs was one of the
options some people were thinking of in the aftermath
of the September 11th attack.
35. Yet it is well within our means to develop and
grow and to equip ourselves with all the wherewithal
needed to gain the respect of the world, to change the
image of Islam for the better. Allah has given us so
much wealth already. All that is really needed is for
us to use this wealth prudently. Only when we have
seriously made the effort can we expect success through
divine intervention.
Sumber : Pejabat Perdana Menteri
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